On Tuesday we had the privilege of welcoming around 40 students in Évora (who came from universities across the region, including Évora, Lisbon and Extremadura - including several students from one of our member schools, Lusófona, Lisbon) for the first full-fledged CrAFt Student Think/Do Tank. 

 

This event, titled ‘CrAFt Your Urban Experience’, challenged the students to come up with innovative solutions to make public areas beautiful, sustainable and inclusive. Following these New European Bauhaus principles, the students came up with proposals on how to integrate shading structures on a parking lot by the entrance of Évora’s historical city center. 

 

What made this event so special is the fact that it was completely student-driven: programmed, organized and ideated by the international CrAFt Core Group of students. Find out more about the core group here (they are coached by ELIA’s advocacy and project manager Irene Garofalo and design researcher & social designer Shay Raviv). 

 

It was also a wonderful experiment in interdisciplinary collaboration, with students coming from disciplines such as visual arts, design, architecture, engineering and biology, and an equally diverse group of local mentors. This was chosen as a format in recognition of the fact that the major issues our societies are facing, like climate change, cannot be solved by working in silos, but necessitate everyone working together combining their respective expertise.

 

Finally, the students had the opportunity to pitch their ideas and prototypes to a panel of stakeholders from the city and region. This included the Mayor of Évora, Vice-Rector of the University of Évora for University Life Policy and Community Relations, Team leader for Évora European Capital of Culture, President of the direction of Grupo Pró-Évora, Coordinator from ADRAL - Agency for the Regional Development of Alentejo, and a representative of the Regional Directorate for Culture. This event showed once more the importance of providing a platform for conversations and exchange between students and stakeholders.  

 

Breaking news for all ELIA members and other higher education institutions: in the academic year 2023-2024 anyone can host their own student think/do tank and join the CrAFt network! Interested? Stay tuned, and follow the CrAFt project as more information will be launched in the coming months.